What are the rules about overflights of National Parks?

National Park overflight rules:

The following is from the AOPA website. A new ruling was recently made concerning overflights of national parks and tribal land. It is good news for General Aviation pilots but bad news for the commercial operators.

Glacier Park in the early spring with the mountains obscured.

Noncommercial general aviation pilots won't be affected by new rules governing air tour operators over national parks. That's because AOPA was part of the working group that developed the rules. The association successfully argued that transient general aviation aircraft do not cause a significant amount of noise or congestion over national parks. AOPA continues to encourage Part 91 GA pilots to "fly friendly" and overfly environmentally sensitive areas at 2,000 feet or more.

FAA recently publicized the issuance of the final rule implementing the requirements of the National Parks Air Tour Management Plan of 2000. (The rule was actually published in early November and it goes into effect January 23.)

The rule will require air tour operators flying less than 5,000 feet agl above national parks or abutting tribal lands to obtain operating authority from the FAA. The FAA and each national park unit will develop an air tour management plan (ATMP) to "provide acceptable and effective measures to mitigate or prevent the significant adverse impacts, if any, of commercial air tour operations upon natural and cultural resources, visitor experiences, and tribal lands."